Love at last
by metallica-wedo
Summary: This story is my version of the path not taken in the second to last episode...


Disclaimer:  I don't own any rights to Love Hina, I just like the show and am writing a story about the characters, in other words, I'm not making any money from this.

A/N:  This is the first Love Hina fic I've written, but I do have some experience from writing Tenchi fics a year or two ago.  I've read all the Love Hina Manga and I've seen the entire series including the Love Hina Again movie, I've even seen the whole series with subtitles.  I'd like to think that my experience with the DVDs and the Manga gives me a pretty good background for writing a fic, but if I ever do stray too far OOC then please tell me.  Anyways, this first fic is going to be a kind of 'what if' one that continues from the point in the anime where Naru finally decides to show the picture Mei gave her that she thinks shows that Mutsumi is Keitaro's promise girl to Mutsumi and Keitaro.  As a warning, yes I am a K/N fan, though I admit that I can see Keitaro with Motoko as well, but anyone else is asking too much in my opinion, and for all you Mutsumi fans out there, I'm sorry but I just can't see Keitaro getting together with his cousin (Grandma Hina said Keitaro and Mutsumi were distantly related when she came back and had the renovations done).

Naru ran down the street apprehensively; she didn't want Keitaro and Mutsumi to get together, but she couldn't keep what she knew from them both and still respect herself.  Even though she knew she had to do this it still hurt because as much as she denied it she knew she really liked Keitaro.  As she neared Mutsumi's apartment Naru braced herself for the pain she knew she would feel when she saw Keitaro's joy to finally find his promise girl.

While Naru was on her way to Mutsumi's apartment Keitaro was brooding in his room of the apartment.  Not only had he gotten an E grade on his practice test, he had also screwed up with Naru again.  As much as he would have liked for Naru to stay at the apartment too, Keitaro felt it would be better if she took her little sister home.  It wasn't like he enjoyed being separated from Naru, but he thought it would be better if Naru could have another chance to get closer to her family.  Unfortunately though, she ended up taking his enthusiasm in trying to help her as enthusiasm for being alone with Mutsumi.  With all the punches he got from Naru, Keitaro sometimes wondered why he cared for her so much, but in the end his feelings always won out over his logic.

Of course this line of thinking brought him back to his main problem right now; what the heck was he going to do about Mutsumi?  Sure, she was pretty, non-violent, and even seemed to like him, but if what his grandma said was true then they were actually related.  No matter how distant their blood might be it just grossed him out thinking about getting together with a family member.  Besides, even as confused as things were, he still had Naru to think about.  Even though things hadn't been going very well lately, he couldn't just give up on her.  The problem was just that she'd been pretty distant lately and he couldn't figure out why.

Keitaro decided that taking a nice hot shower would help him clear his mind.  On his way to the bathroom Keitaro thought he heard the shower already going so he decided to knock on the door before going in.  Much to his surprise he heard Mutsumi respond.

"Yes?"

"Uh… Mutsumi, why are you in my bathroom?  Wait, let me guess.  When Amalla lived here you guys had it remodeled so you could share the bathroom, right?"

"Yes we did, is that a problem Keitaro?"

"Yes, it is.  I'm sorry Mutsumi, but I don't think this arrangement is going to work out, I'm leaving!"

Although Keitaro was afraid to face his parents, he would rather do that than risk Naru getting the wrong idea, especially if she found out about the shared bathroom the apartment had.  Since he hadn't planned on staying long anyways Keitaro didn't really have much to pack up before he left, he had only brought a small duffel bag for his things and had it packed in minutes.  On his way out, Keitaro considered staying rather than facing his parents, but quickly dismissed it.  As Keitaro paused at the front door Mutsumi came out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel.  Unfortunately, with Keitaro's bad luck and the general clumsiness both he and Mutsumi seemed to possess something bad was bound to happen in this situation.  As she was leaving the bathroom Mutsumi tripped and fell onto Keitaro.

"Ahhh!  Mutsumi!  What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Ara, Ara.  I'm sorry Keitaro."

At that instant Naru slammed open the door to find Mutsumi's nude form resting on top of Keitaro.  For once she didn't get mad, instead she looked as if her heart had torn in two.  It was the worst sight Keitaro had ever seen in his life, the last thing he ever wanted to do was cause Naru pain.

"Naru!  It's not what you think!"

"I should have known… you two made a promise to each other!"

"Naru, wait!"

Seeing Keitaro and Mutsumi together like that was too much for Naru.  The pain was unbearable, as Naru turned to run she dropped the picture.  At least when they looked at the picture they would know that they had made that promise from so long ago.

As Keitaro watched Naru run away he felt horrible.  He couldn't just let her leave that way, not with the pain he'd seen in her face.  He pushed Mutsumi off to the side and ran out the door after Naru.  It only took him a few seconds to finally catch up to Naru and grab a hold of her.  When Keitaro finally did catch Naru's arm she turned around and he could see the tears streaming down her face.

"Naru, please stop running away from me!  The one I really care about is …"

Before he could finish what he was saying Naru interrupted Keitaro by kissing him, much to his surprise.

'What is this?  Her soft kiss… it's indescribably wonderful…'

Before Keitaro could gather his thoughts Naru broke the kiss and just stood there looking down at her feet, but Keitaro could still see the tears streaming down her face.  Even as shocked as he was though Keitaro actually managed to do something right for once.  He couldn't just let her stand there looking so vulnerable and sad, so he took her into his arms in a gentle embrace.

To say the least, Naru was shocked.  She'd come expecting to see Keitaro together with Mutsumi and she'd even seen more than she'd feared she might.  But now Keitaro was trying to comfort her?  Why should he even care how she felt?  Knowing what she did of Keitaro, Naru assumed he was just trying to be nice to her and let her down easily.  The last thing she wanted from Keitaro right now though was pity.

"Let me go Keitaro, I don't want your pity!  Just go be with Mutsumi and be happy, forget about me!"

"I can't just forget about you Naru!  You're the one I really care about, not Mutsumi!"

"What?!  How can you say that, she's the one you made that promise to so long ago?!"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you these past few days Naru!  I don't care about that promise anymore.  The reason I'm trying to get into Tokyo U now is because of you Naru."

Naru couldn't believe what Keitaro was saying, it was almost unreal.  Almost since she'd known him Keitaro had gone on and on about how he was trying to find this promise girl from his past, it was even one of the things she liked about him.  His determination to get into Tokyo U was incredible and had seemed to be fueled by his dream of meeting this promise girl.  Now he suddenly didn't care anymore, he'd just given up on his 15 year long dream?  It just didn't make any sense.

"How can you say that Keitaro?  How can you give up on your dreams because of me?"

"But Naru, I'm not giving up on my dream.  My dream was to meet a wonderful girl and go to Tokyo U with her.  Even if you're not that little girl from my memory you are very real and I really care about you.  You're the girl I want to go to Tokyo U with Naru."

"You idiot, weren't you listening to me?  I told you that Mutsumi is the girl you made that promise with!  You DID meet her and you DO want to go to Tokyo U with her, you've said as much already!"

"But Naru, why do you think Mutsumi is my promise girl?"

"That's why I was coming to see you; Mei found a picture from a long time ago that shows you with Mutsumi at Hinata House from when you were just a kid."

"Really?  Oh man, that's weird.  I hope you're wrong about that Naru, it would just be wrong if Mutsumi was really my promise girl."

"What?!  How can you say that, that's just cruel Keitaro."

"Ha, ha…   I guess you weren't paying much attention to Grandma during that meeting, were you Naru?"

"Why do you say that Keitaro, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, when Haruka said that she recognized Mutsumi, Grandma mentioned how she was related to our family.  If Mutsumi is really my promise girl then I made a promise to a distant cousin to get into Tokyo U with her and live happily ever after."

"She, she's… Mutsumi's your cousin?"

"Yep, so you see, even if Mutsumi were my promise girl, I could still keep my promise to her and get into Tokyo U but not 'be' with her.  Besides, I'd really rather get into Tokyo U with you Naru, and… well… I know you're not related to me."

This was not turning out the way Naru had expected at all.  She'd come ready to face Keitaro being happy with Mutsumi and gently letting her down, instead Keitaro had completely eliminated any doubt about him getting together with Mutsumi, especially since she was his cousin, and had all but professed his love to her.  The complete turnaround of this situation had Naru fairly off-balanced, but happy beyond belief.  For making her so happy in a situation where Naru had thought she'd be forced to be completely alone again Naru decided to give Keitaro a nice reward, she took Keitaro into a fierce embrace and kissed him passionately.

Keitaro had been a little off-balanced himself since Naru had come into the apartment, but now he was in heaven.  The girl he had really cared about for quite awhile now had willing kissed him not once but twice in the past five minutes.  Keitaro's happiness couldn't even possibly be measured at that moment.

Though neither of them realized it, they stayed together like that for well over five minutes before someone clearing their throat interrupted them.  Of course, it was Mutsumi.  She had actually already been standing there for a few minutes, but she had only interrupted because it'd become apparent she wasn't going to get their attention anytime soon.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but did you drop this picture Naru?"

When Mutsumi raised the picture in question Keitaro took it from her to look at it.  As he scrutinized it he noticed that he was indeed playing in the sandbox with a little girl that was probably Mutsumi.  Keitaro, unlike Naru, looked at more than just that though, he saw the Liddo-kun doll was by Mutsumi so it probably still belonged to her at that point, Keitaro also noticed that the picture seemed to be focused on a little girl that looked a lot like Naru.  The smile on Keitaro's face almost looked painful.

"Naru!  Do you realize what this picture is showing?!"

"Of course I do, it's showing that you and Mutsumi played together at Hinata which means you probably did make your promise with her."

"That's not all it's showing Naru, look at the little girl to the left, doesn't that remind you of someone?"

Naru took the picture to look at it once more and took notice of the fact that she was in the picture too… As she registered that fact she remembered the time Keitaro had told her he thought she was his promise girl and how she said it was impossible.  Now she felt really bad about having broken Keitaro's spirit back then.

"That might be me Keitaro, but even so I was still too young to be able to talk…"

"I know Naru, but that doesn't matter to me, remember?  As nice as it would be if you really were my promise girl, that's not the promise that I care about anymore, the one I know I made with you is much more important to me Naru."

"Oh Keitaro…"

Keitaro and Naru were about to embrace once again when they heard a sniffling sound.  Realizing that it was Mutsumi they separated again to try to comfort her.  They both felt really bad since it had been obvious for a while that Mutsumi really liked Keitaro and then they were suddenly being so affectionate right in front of her.

"Mutsumi, are you going to be okay?"

"What do you mean Keitaro?  I'm fine, I'm just so happy you two have finally admitted how you feel to each other."

"Oh, well then... thanks Mutsumi."

"I suppose I should be going to bed now since it's so late, do you two want to stay here tonight?"

Keitaro was reminded of how he wanted Naru to bond with her family, and as much as he wanted to be by her, especially now, he still thought it would be best if she were to stay with her family for at least a few days.

"Well, actually… Ah, Naru?"

"Yes Keitaro?"

"Shouldn't you be getting back to the train so you can go home with your sister?  It's not that I want you to go away, I just think it would be a good idea to spend some time with your family since it's been so long since they've seen you."

"I guess…"

Before Keitaro finished his explanation Naru was beginning to get furious, but when he was done she realized that he was right.  It was just that now that everything was out in the open between them she really didn't want him staying alone with Mutsumi and more importantly, she didn't want to be separated from him.  With this in mind Naru had an idea.

"But Keitaro… If you want, you could come with us?"

"Really, are you sure that would be okay?  I mean, your parents don't even know me?"

"Then I'll just have to call and tell them from the train station, but I'm sure they won't mind."

"Then definitely!  Will you be alright by yourself here Mutsumi?"

"Yes, I'll be fine, go ahead and have fun you two."

With the decision made, everyone went back to Mutsumi's apartment so Keitaro could get his things and he and Naru were soon on their way to the train station.  With all that had happened in the last hour or so Keitaro was very happy, so at first he didn't notice when Naru reached out and held his hand, when he realized it though he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and smiled at her, he felt as though he were the luckiest guy in the world.

Author's Notes:  Well, I guess that's it for now, if this was any good maybe I'll continue.  For those of you familiar with my Tenchi fics, yes, I do realize I'm being a hypocrite concerning Keitaro and Mutsumi and my only defense is that this is a different situation and that's all I care to say about it for now.  I also know my history of updating hasn't been too good with my Tenchi fics, but I intend to remedy that and keep up with this story as well, plus, I have a lot more free time now that I've finally finished college! (at least for now).  Anyways, please read and review!


End file.
